Is Weed Legal in Spain? Rules for Tourists in 2026

Is weed legal in Spain?

Weed is not legal in Spain: there is no legal adult-use market, and the law punishes public use, supply and sale. As of 2026-10-27 the status is illegal, with private use for yourself not penalised by the two main statutes.

Two national laws set the rules. Ley Orgánica 4/2015, the citizen security law, gives administrative fines for use and possession in public. The Penal Code, art. 368, makes trafficking, and cultivation or possession aimed at supplying others, a crime. Neither statute names a tourist exception. You will see Spain called “decriminalised”. The word hides the fine: at least €601 in public, and no licensed shops. For how that differs from legal sale, see decriminalized vs legal.

What is the difference between public and private use in Spain?

Spain fines cannabis use and possession in public places. It does not punish use or possession for your own consumption in private. Possession meant for trafficking or supply is criminal wherever it happens. The table sets each situation beside its law and penalty, as of 2026-10-27.

Situation	Law	Category	Penalty
Smoking or holding weed in a street, park, bar, shop or public transport	LO 4/2015, art. 36.16	Serious administrative offence	Fine €601 to €30,000, product seized
Plants growing where the public can see them	LO 4/2015, art. 36.18	Serious administrative offence	Fine €601 to €30,000
Bar or club owner tolerating use or dealing on the premises	LO 4/2015, art. 36.19	Serious administrative offence	Fine €601 to €30,000
Using weed inside a private home	No article covers it	None under these statutes	None
Growing, making or trading, or possessing to supply others	Penal Code, art. 368	Crime	1 to 3 years in prison plus a fine of once to twice the value, for drugs not causing serious harm
Organised club growing and handing out cannabis	Penal Code, art. 368 as applied by the Supreme Court	Crime	See the club section below

Article 39 of the 2015 law splits fines into three bands. Minor offences cost €100 to €600. Serious offences cost €601 to €30,000, split into €601 to €10,400, €10,401 to €20,200 and €20,201 to €30,000. Very serious offences cost €30,001 to €600,000. Public cannabis use sits in the serious band, so the floor is €601.

Growing for your own use is not automatically a crime: Spain’s Health Ministry states that cultivation for the grower’s own consumption is not criminal. Cultivation aimed at supplying others falls under art. 368, and plants visible to the public draw the art. 36.18 fine.

Article 47 lets officers seize the substance while the fine is processed. Article 45 says that if the same conduct could be a crime, the administrative case waits for the court.

Is it legal to smoke weed in Spain as a tourist?

A tourist may not legally smoke weed in any public place in Spain, and no law gives visitors a different status from residents.

Both statutes apply to everyone on Spanish soil. The 2015 law’s text covers “lugares, vías, establecimientos públicos o transportes colectivos”: places, roads, public establishments and public transport. The Penal Code does not distinguish by nationality either. A visitor also has no legal way to buy, because no shop is licensed for cannabis sales.

Can I smoke weed on my hotel balcony in Spain?

Statutes and rulings do not say whether a private hotel balcony is a public place, so the balcony question has no settled answer. The room itself is the safest spot.

The Constitutional Court held in STC 10/2002 (17 January 2002) that hotel rooms count as a home for the protection against entry and search, and it struck down article 557 of the criminal procedure law, which had excluded them. Article 36.16 punishes use in public places and roads. A shared terrace, pool deck or corridor is on the public side. A private room is on the other. Hotels set their own smoking rules and cleaning charges in the booking terms, so check yours.

Can you smoke weed on a beach, in a car or in a bar in Spain?

A beach, a street and a bar count as public places in ordinary use, so cannabis use there risks the €601 minimum fine. A parked private car is different.

The 2015 law lists “lugares, vías, establecimientos públicos”. An open beach is a place anyone can enter. A bar is a public establishment, and article 36.19 separately fines the owner for tolerating drug use there.

Cars have a specific rule. Interior Ministry Instruction 7/2025, signed on 6 May 2025, tells the national police and Guardia Civil that possession or use inside a private vehicle used only for transport and parked does not fall under art. 36.16. Driving is a separate matter, and so is carrying drugs for supply.

Is weed legal in Barcelona or Madrid for tourists?

Weed is not legal in Barcelona or Madrid for tourists, because the fine law and the Penal Code are national and apply the same way in both cities.

Regions tried to write their own rules for cannabis clubs. In December 2017 the Constitutional Court annulled Navarre’s Law 24/2014 on cannabis user groups, holding that a regional law cannot provide cover for conduct the Criminal Code treats as a crime, according to the Transnational Institute’s account. The Catalan law met the same fate. The Basque Law 1/2016 survived in part: in STC 29/2018 (8 March 2018) the Court upheld article 83, read as requiring user associations to collaborate with the health administration, with no set association type. It does not authorise growing or supplying cannabis. Neither city has a legal retail system.

Can tourists join a cannabis social club in Spain?

No Spanish court has approved a club that grows and hands out cannabis. Registering as an association does not authorise growing or distributing it.

On 9 December 2015 the Supreme Court convicted four members of the Pannagh association, overturning an acquittal. LegalToday describes the group as not small, open to new members and storing cannabis in bulk. Two members received 1 year and 8 months in prison and a €250,000 fine. Two received six months minus one day. In STC 37/2018 (23 April 2018) the Constitutional Court granted amparo, annulled both December 2015 judgments on defence-rights grounds, and sent the case back to the Supreme Court. It rejected the legality challenge to art. 368 and cited an earlier Supreme Court ruling, STS 1377/1997 of 17 November 1997, which convicted the runners of a similar association growing for its members.

The Court’s test for non-punishable shared consumption comes from STS 360/2015 of 10 June, as summarised by LegalToday:

1. The participants are habitual consumers.
2. Consumption happens in a closed place.
3. The group is small, identifiable and determined.
4. The quantities do not exceed what is needed for immediate consumption.

These are indicators, not strict conditions. A club that signs up visitors, holds stock and grows in bulk sits badly with them, and no ruling addresses tourist members. Taking cannabis out of a club into the street brings the public-possession fine described above.

Can I bring cannabis medicine to Spain?

Prescribed cannabis-derived medicine has a lawful route; recreational cannabis does not. The AEMPS travel guidance lets travellers carry their own prescribed medicine, and recommends a prescription or doctor’s report. Above the set quantity, you need a certificate from the Spanish health authorities. The cap is a three-month supply, but only 15 days for cannabis or its derivatives. Apply at least 10 days before travel, with a signed form, medical certificate, original prescription, passport copy and tickets. The certificate lasts three months. Route-by-route rules are in travelling with medical cannabis.

Is weed legal in Spain in 2026?

As of 2026-10-27 Spain has not changed the law on recreational cannabis. The texts in force are the 2015 security law and the 1995 Penal Code.

The BOE shows the last update of the consolidated 2015 law on 23 February 2021, and the last change to article 368 came into force on 23 December 2010 (Ley Orgánica 5/2010). We re-check when the BOE text updates. Compare other countries in the dated status table or the UK rules.

Checklist before you go

1. Leave recreational cannabis at home. Medicine needs the AEMPS route above.
2. Do not use or hold it in a street, park, beach, bar or on public transport. The fine starts at €601.
3. Do not grow plants where a passer-by can see them.
4. Treat a club offer from a stranger as a risk: the courts have not approved clubs. If charged, hire a Spanish lawyer.
5. Read your hotel’s smoking policy. It is a separate rule from the law.

More country rules are in the guides. For how each date and source on this site is checked, see about.